Explanation:
A star cluster around 2 million years young surrounded by
natal clouds of dust and glowing gas,
M16 is also
known as The Eagle Nebula.
This beautifully detailed image
of the region includes
cosmic sculptures
made famous in
Hubble Space Telescope close-ups of the starforming complex.
Described as elephant trunks or
Pillars of Creation, dense,
dusty columns rising near the center are light-years in length but
are gravitationally contracting
to
form stars.
Energetic radiation from the cluster stars erodes material near
the tips, eventually exposing the embedded new stars.
Extending from the ridge of bright emission left of center
is another dusty starforming column known as the
Fairy
of Eagle Nebula.
M16 and the Eagle Nebula lie about 7,000 light-years away,
an easy target for binoculars or small telescopes in a
nebula rich part of the sky
toward the split constellation
Serpens Cauda
(the tail of the snake).